Critical Mass

The cracks in the walls were forced open further, even as we continued to sprint for the exit. The lights were failing, the power slowly shutting down as the generators were being destroyed. Evidently the commander-ranked mutant slash bioweapon had finally broken out of its cage.

And it intended to get the hell out of here.

"Move, move, move!" I yelled, urging my group onward. I could see the exit just ahead, barely a hundred meters away. The familiar double doors made of reinforced metal…which had barred us before. And now they looked like our only route to salvation.

The tremors increased in intensity, and the research facility crumbled. I didn't understand how this was happening. The reinforced material and walls of the facility were able to contain the commander ranked mutant slash bioweapon before, so why were they suddenly falling apart?

"The monster has grown stronger," the sergeant said in response to my query. He shook his head. "It had always been steadily growing bigger and stronger over the last few days. It was only a matter of time before it broke out. That's why we stayed…to monitor it and keep our best to contain it. But now that it smashed apart the security room, we no longer have the controls to the bulkheads or turrets. It's free to rampage and break loose without having to worry about shutters and weapons destroying its appendages."

"Appendages?" Pang Fei repeated nervously. The sergeant's face was hidden behind those goggles and rebreather, but I had a sense that he was smiling grimly.

"Yeah. You'll see later."

Honestly, I didn't want to see the appendages of a commander ranked mutant. At least not until I had leveled up my stats and Ability. How high did my stats needed to be to face a commander-ranked mutant? If 25 was enough for a warrior class mutant, then perhaps I needed at least 250. I knew that commander-ranked mutants were at least ten times stronger and more powerful than warrior ranked mutants.

This wasn't good. I had about 50 per stats right now. I doubted that would be enough to face a commander ranked mutant. Not to mention, I would feel safer if I could unlock the next level of my Ability.

"Ugh!"

"Watch out!"

At Lei Shu's grunt and Lou Qian's warning, I spun around and caught sight of something bursting through the rapidly expanding cracks in the walls and floor. Organic tendrils surged out from the gaps, pustules swelling atop bloated flesh. Yellow pus dripped from them, splashing into the ground in disgusting globs.

"What the hell are those!?" Nian Qing shouted, his voice filled with fear.

"The commander-ranked mutant," the sergeant said matter-of-factly. He and his men were running as quickly as they could, heading for the exit and shepherding the cleaning and cooking crew between them. They were scared, but this wasn't the first time they had seen this monstrosity, and so they focused entirely on sprinting to safety.

We were almost there…almost to the doors.

I conjured my plasma rifles and obliterated a few of those tentacles, eliciting another thunderous roar from throughout the entire facility. I couldn't help but shudder at the awful sound. To think that all of these belonged to only a single entity.

Despite totally destroying at least three of those ugly things, more of them burst out of the end of the molten corridor, surging vengefully toward us. Apparently I had made things worse.

"Uh oh…"

"Let me!"

Lou Qian dove to the front, swinging her scythe and slicing one of the tentacles into pieces. She rammed the blunt end of the haft of her scythe against the ground, freezing the entire corridor and entombing it in ice. For a moment, the tentacles stopped, frozen solid.

"Move!" Lou Qian snapped at us. "I won't be able to stop it for long! It's too powerful!"

I could see the tentacles trembling and the ice vibrating. Even when frozen, they hadn't been stopped totally. They were going to break free sooner or later.

Fortunately, the regular people in the group finally reached the doors. The sergeant punched in some codes, and then he cursed, slamming a fist against the hatch.

"The power is out! The doors won't open!"

"Let me." Lei Shu squirmed to the front and placed a finger on the pad. Sparks flew as he generated electricity and allowed it to flow into the mechanisms, activating it once more. The sergeant watched in awe, and then quickly punched the codes in again.

This time, the double doors swung open to allow us to exit. The first two security guards rushed out, panning their weapons about and ensuring that there were no zombies at the front. The cooking and cleaning crew followed shortly, and then the rest of the security guards moved up. The evolvers went last, forming the rearguard. When the ice created by Lou Qian finally shattered, Nian Qing stepped up and blocked the corridor with a ton of wood.

"Out! All of you!" The sergeant bellowed. We stumbled out, and then he hurriedly punched in a few more codes. Lei Shu continued powering the doors with his lightning, and we all breathed a sigh of relief when they shut.

Unfortunately, that meant we were shrouded in complete darkness.

"I've got this!" Lei Shu assured us, summoning his lightning ball to illuminate the place. The security guards also flipped on the flashlights attached to the barrels of their rifles, sweeping the dark interior with blinding beams. With the darkness partially banished, we were able to move swiftly through the corridor, even as the double doors behind us dented and curved when the commander-ranked mutant hammered incessantly against it.

"Let's hurry," I said. Nobody objected.

For a brief moment, it appeared that we had earned ourselves some respite. Apart from the ominous clanging of the commander ranked mutant's tentacles against the double doors, we weren't bothered by anything. No zombies, no mutants, nothing. Our long run toward the surface wasn't interrupted by any sort of assailants. We could almost taste freedom, especially when we saw the sunlight streaming from above, glowing upon the hole from which my evolver squad had entered.

"We're almost there!" I encouraged the others. "Keep going!"

And we broke out into the surface, freedom at last. We continued running, putting as much distance between us and the entrance to the facility, whether it was because of some survival instinct or we didn't take anything for granted. The cleaning and cooking crew slowed down a little, some of them wanting to stop and rest after getting out of danger, but the sergeant shove them forward.

"Don't stop moving!" he ordered. "Keep running! I'll tell you when to stop!"

The regular non-security dudes (comprising of old aunties and uncles) gave him a disbelieving stare, but after all the horrors they had been through, they decided to follow his lead for now. They had been stuck in a hell for days. Physically pushing themselves for a bit more wouldn't kill them.

Just as well they did, for the ground suddenly broke apart, with countless tentacles erupting from below and swaying about. The immense appendages lashed out, sending entire buildings toppling, flattening vehicles and crushing debris into powder. Several of them burst out from the place where we had been running over just seconds ago, vindicating the sergeant's decision to keep pushing the regular people.

"It's out…" Nian Qing turned pale. "What do we do now?"

"We can't get away from this monster in time!" Pang Fei cursed under his breath, his pallor just as ugly as Nian Qing's.

Lou Qian and Lei Shu got ready to attack the appendages, but I threw a hand and stopped them. Behind us, the regular people came to a stop. The security guards were still jogging, but the cleaning and cooking crew were breathing heavily, out of stamina. Evidently they were no longer able to continue running.

And we couldn't force them either. The aged workers had visibly reached their physical limits.

"We split up," I said, coming to a decision and looking up to glare at the quivering biological tendrils. They resembled something from the hive mind or some collective entity that was an agglomeration of space zombies transformed because of the Marker or something.

"What?" Pang Fei turned to me.

"I'll draw the commander ranked mutant's attention away," I told them. "You guys, please escort the Bai Zeng research facility safely back to District 4. Keep them safe from zombies…and you know what to do at night, right? Avoid the zombies at night. Bring them back home."

"Wait, what about you?" Lou Qian demanded. "You can't seriously be thinking of facing the commander ranked mutant on your own!"

"Hit and run," I replied. "I have no intention of slaying the commander-ranked mutant because I know I can't." That was a pity, because it would be worth a lot of Kill Count points. However, there was no point obsessing over Kill Count points if I was going to end up getting killed by the enemy. I wasn't stupid enough to overestimate my own strength. "I'm the only one with enough firepower to inflict damage on it, so it makes sense that I draw its attention away. And quite frankly, among us, I have the highest chance of surviving an encounter with it. Don't worry, I'm not reckless enough to fight that thing head on. I'll just distract it away from you guys. Make a run for it while I do so. I'm counting on you to bring these ladies and gentlemen home safely."

"At least let one of us help you!" Lei Shu growled. "I'll volunteer!"

"All right then. Lei Shu and…"

"I want to help too," Lisa said.

"I also volunteer," Lou Qian said at the same time, raising her hand. I shook my head.

"Lou Qian, I need you to lead the others while I'm gone. You know the routes back, and you're the strongest, so the staff will be safest with you. Pang Fei and Nian Qing, back her up."

I turned to Lisa and nodded. "I guess you're with me then, Lisa."

Most likely Lei Shu or I was going to get hurt while fighting that commander-ranked mutant. We weren't going to do much against it, but hurt it just enough to draw its attention away from the regular people. That being the case, it would be best to have Lisa accompany us. I didn't want to regret not having her around when Lei Shu was fatally injured by a blow from the commander-ranked mutant.

Furthermore, even though I would be able to survive a single fatal blow, I wasn't sure how I was going to crawl away when I was severely injured. Lisa's healing abilities were going to allow us to survive. Even if we ended up not needing her abilities, that was perfectly fine. I would rather bring her along and not need her healing than not bring her along and ended up needing her healing. Think of it as insurance.

"Let's go!"

Nodding to Lei Shu and Lisa, I then led the way and ran along the road in the opposite direction. Lou Qian led the regular people, with Nian Qing and Pang Fei taking up the rearguard. She was cleverly using the broken buildings as cover, vanishing out of sight and traveling through relatively safer routes. I didn't know how the tentacles or whatever operated, but it didn't seem like they were detecting prey by smell. For some reason, it looked as if it was relying on sense of sight or perhaps sound to track its prey. Maybe even touch, but as long as we stayed out of physical contact with it, then…

A good number of them were moving slowly in the direction where Lou Qian and the others had run off to. Sound, perhaps? The reverberations caused by their footsteps? I wasn't sure, but I wasn't taking any chances. It was fortunate that the appendages were moving slowly and uncertainly, which meant we had a chance.

"Let's go!" I told my friends. Materializing the plasma rifles, I bombarded the tentacles, disintegrating at least three of them in a single volley. There was a terrible shriek, and the remaining appendages turned vaguely in my direction.

Excellent. I had its attention.

To ensure I kept its focus on me, I unleashed another volley that destroyed another couple of appendages. As the remaining tendrils thrashed about and surged toward me, I led my friends away in a run, luring the commander-ranked mutant away from Lou Qian's group.

We were going to do our best to ensure everyone survived.